Chapter Text
“Fuck,” Toni grunts as a stabbing pain shoots through her knee. “Fuck!” Her leg buckles beneath her, and she crashes to the ground before she has a chance to catch herself.
Usually Toni’s philosophy around injuries is to just push through it. That’s what got her through college, after all. But this—this is different. The pain radiating from her knee is excruciating, and she can’t do anything to stop the tears that start falling as she clutches at the joint. “Shit!” She screams, anger bubbling up along with pain.
It’s probably a pathetic sight, a star basketball player rolling around alone on the court with tears streaming down her face. For a minute, Toni is glad that nobody is around to see her like this. That relief is shattered when she realizes that she can’t walk, has no way to get help. As far as she knows, she’s the only one in the facility.
In other words, she’s completely fucked.
She can barely see her bag with her phone in it through the pain and tears, but thankfully it’s only a few feet away on the sideline. “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck,” Toni repeats as she grits her teeth and starts dragging herself toward the bag. It must be a miracle she doesn’t pass out on the way, especially with the way her head is spinning.
With shaking hands, she desperately sorts through the bag until she finds her phone. She scrolls through her contacts until she finds her coach’s number, and hits the call button as fast as she can.
“Toni?” Thank God, Toni thinks as she tries to calm herself down enough to talk. She’s still breathing heavily, and Coach must hear it through the phone, because with increasing urgency she asks, “Toni, what’s wrong?”
“My knee—I fucked up my knee,” Toni chokes out. “Can’t walk.”
The phone is silent for a moment, and Toni can’t help the pained whimper that escapes as another wave of pain shoots through her leg. “Okay, breathe Toni. I’m gonna send someone to come get you. Are you at the gym right now?”
“Oh f—yeah, I’m in the main gym.”
“Good. The new trainer is supposed to be in the building today, so I’ll tell her to help you out and get you to the hospital. I’ll meet you there, okay?” This is the most serious Toni has ever heard her coach, and it’s a little bit terrifying.
But she pushes back the fear, instead sucking in a breath and agreeing. “Okay.” Coach hangs up as soon as Toni confirms, and she’s left alone on the floor once again. The tears have died down a bit, now, and she can breathe easier with the knowledge that someone is coming for her. Jesus fucking Christ, her leg hurts, though.
Toni’s thoughts are interrupted when the gym door flies open and someone runs in. From her position on the floor, Toni can’t see who it is until the footsteps stop and a face appears directly above her. “You’re Toni?” The woman (who she assumes is the trainer) asks with a southern lilt to her voice.
“Who the fuck else would I be?” Toni asks harshly. The trainer flinches back slightly, and Toni immediately feels bad despite herself. “Sorry. Sorry, just—pain. Lots of pain.”
“It’s alright,” the woman says with a small smile. “C’mon, let’s get you up and outta here.” She offers a hand, and Toni takes it gratefully. “You ready? On three.” Toni tightens her grip on the woman’s hand. “One.” She tries to get her good leg under her as best she can from her position on her back. “Two.” Toni prepares herself as best she can for the pain that she knows is going to come. “Three.”
By the time she’s standing, Toni’s voice is hoarse from screaming and swearing. Her good leg is threatening to collapse as well, and her head is spinning from pain. Thankfully the trainer rushes to loop Toni’s arm around her shoulders, and she immediately collapses against the other woman’s side. “I gotcha,” the trainer says as she starts the process of pretty much dragging Toni out of the gym.
It takes some excruciating amount of time (Toni has no idea how long it actually is) before the two make it out of the hallways of the Lynx’s facility and through the doors. The cool air feels good against Toni’s tear-streaked face, and soon she’s being lifted into the trainer’s car. An ice pack is tossed back at her, which Toni gratefully accepts and presses to her knee.
The car ride passes in a blur, mostly because Toni is delirious at this point from pain and dehydration. She occupies herself by staring at the back of the trainer’s head, noticing for the first time that she has blonde hair.
“We’re here,” the trainer announces when they pull up to the team hospital. Coach is waiting by the doors with a wheelchair, and Toni has never been more happy that she doesn’t have to walk somewhere. The transfer from car to wheelchair is difficult and accompanied by screaming from all parties, but finally Toni is being wheeled into the hospital.
At some point Toni registers that there’s a doctor in front of her, and the words “surgery” and “ACL” break through the haze in her head once or twice. There’s probably a form she signs, and someone must be tasked with changing her into a hospital gown, because Toni finds herself laying in an operating room. At a doctor’s request, she mumbles out a countdown from ten, and finally, she finds herself blissfully unconscious.
///
When she wakes up the first time, the only light in her hospital room is coming from a small lamp in the corner. Toni can just make out someone curled up in a chair by the lamp, and it vaguely occurs to her that the figure has blonde hair. Within minutes, though, Toni’s eyes drift shut once again and she lets sleep take over.
///
The second time Toni wakes up, light is now streaming through the room’s small windows. She sits up quickly, trying to gather her bearings, and groans loudly when the shift shoots pain through her knee. Someone stirs in the corner of the room, catching Toni’s attention. “G’morning,” the trainer yawns. Toni just blinks at her, transfixed by the woman without pain clouding her vision.
“Why are you here?” It’s not what she wants to say, but Toni can’t stop the words from coming out of her mouth. And instead of apologizing like she wants to, she just stares at the trainer across the room.
“Well, the doctors said someone should stay with you to make sure there weren’t any complications. And I just figured it’d be best for me to stay, since I have at least some medical knowledge.” The explanation makes sense, so Toni offers a grunt of acknowledgement as she settles back into the bed. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better,” Toni mutters quietly. “Not so much excruciating pain.”
The trainer laughs, and Toni doesn’t know whether or not she should be offended at this strange woman finding humor in her pain. “Yeah, that was rough. Thank the Lord I was in the building, otherwise it could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.”
“Thank you. For helping, I mean.”
They stare at each other in silence, each assessing the other. “Of course,” the trainer finally breaks first. “I’m Shelby, by the way. If we’re gonna be workin’ together it’s probably good to know each other.”
“Toni. Shalifoe. But you already knew that,” Toni laughs awkwardly. Shelby just smiles at her, toying with her necklace.
“I did indeed. You’re the star of the team, as I understand it.”
Toni smiles confidently at Shelby’s praise. She’s good, and she knows it—after all, the WNBA is what she’s spent nearly her entire life working toward. She was voted Rookie of the Year, has been an all-star both years of her career. She won a championship with the Lynx last year, and everyone in the basketball universe was counting on a repeat.
Counting on her.
And now… that might not happen.
She descends into panic before she can stop it, caught up in thoughts of failing her team. What if she can’t get back in shape before the season, what if she’s the reason the championship slips away? It’s all going to be her fault, they’re going to lose everything, they’ll all blame her, they’ll—
“Toni.” Shelby’s voice breaks through her spiral, and Toni finally looks up to see that the trainer is much closer than before. She’s hovering over the bed now, hand covering Toni’s. “Just breathe. In and out, you’ll be fine. That’s it.” Toni measures her breathing until her heart rate slows and she can think again. “You’re okay. There we go.”
Once Toni has sufficiently calmed down, Shelby starts to move away. In a moment of uncharacteristic panic, though, Toni grabs her hand to stop her. “Stay,” she says hoarsely. “Please. Just… can you tell me it’ll be okay?”
She nods, sitting gingerly on the bed by Toni’s good leg. “It’ll be okay. Look, as someone who’s dealt with ACL tears a lot, I’ll have you ship-shape and on the court in no time. Y’all gotta win that championship, after all.” Toni gives her a small smile, hoping it conveys how grateful she is to the other woman, and Shelby returns it.
Maybe it won’t be so bad.
(Toni changes her mind as soon as she moves her leg again. It’s definitely bad.)